Summarize Descartes’s view of the mind–body relationship.
Rene Descartes was a mathematician, philosopher and scientist. He was influential in the field of mathematics. He refused to trust his own senses and avoided emotional attachments with people.
According to him, physical sciences are uncertain and arithmetic and geometric studies are trustworthy. He says that science should be objective and free from biases and personal perception. His best-known philosophical statement is “Cogito, ergo sum” which means “I think, therefore I am”.
Descartes invented analytical geometry and many other new ideas from the nature and not from other people. Like Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo, Descartes believe that ultimate knowledge is the mathematical knowledge.
He also accepted the Pythagorean conception of universe. Descartes also suggested that human body and human mind are completely two different things, which have different functions and are independent.
He differentiated minds of human and animals by defining that only human possesses a conscious and rational mind. He explained body as physical and mind as non-physical. He meant that only body works and operates because of physical principles and mind does not.
He argues that both mind and body are independent but they do interact. He explained the mind-body interaction with the example that the cognitive experiences such as hunger, pain or feelings are only due to the close relation of mind with body. Without mind-body interaction, all the cognitive and sensory experiences are impossible.